Former CEO & Chairman Daniel M. Meyer (a former member of that much-beleaguered class), a major stockholder, is a prominent new Newporter who specializes in purchasing large estates, golfing, and yachting. He does this with monies realized from packaging loans offered to students, often with college logos affixed to them inviting students to believe that these are cheap loans offered through colleges' benefices. Presently he is demolishing a ten million dollar 45 acre estate on Ocean Drive, "Avalon" and is thinking of purchasing the next-door estate. Good place for a new-age robber baron. Ah, but don't forget, he's also contributing money to Lucy's Heath while doing so. Not many of us can turn a building project into a charitable contribution (donating salvaged materials' income) to help with our taxes (sigh).

Students now graduate with an average of $20,000 in loans, and as I learned last summer in knocking on doors, MANY in New England with its pricey colleges owe a lot more, many of them private loans. The average indebteness of college students has more than doubled in the past decade.

A high percentage of these students apply for private loans without ever filling out the forms (estimated 20%) for the much lower priced federal loans. I would attribute this to the LENGTHY and complex form the gov't in its great wisdom provides. They then turn to the private market, not realizing the extra monies (inc. fees) involved. These loans charge up to 4 pts. more than a gov't loan plus fees. '"Today, the average rate in the First Marblehead pool is nearly 11 percent. Interest rates on federal loans, by contrast, are capped at 6.8 percent. "' And these loans, unlike federal ones, are NOT wiped out by bankruptcy. Hey, someone has to pay for the Bentley.

While it is not legal for colleges to accept incentives for government loans, not so with private ones. Salve Regina just paid a fine $26,000 fine for listing some of these loan originators as "preferred" loans while not revealing that they rec'd inventive for doing so. Students and parents often do not realize that they would be better off shopping around.

'"The student loan industry could be in for more jolts. Policy makers and regulators say that there are dangerous parallels between the private student loan and subprime mortgage markets. In both, there have been phenomenal profits, aggressive marketing and, until the recent credit market turmoil, a healthy appetite from Wall Street investors."' These are bottom feeders who hungrily sucked in huge amounts of monies while Congress & regulators slept. They made plenty of monies for themselves while others are/were left holding the bag.

"First Marblehead" is now forced to submit documents regarding to this former CEO and its lending practices going back six years. Did I mention that it's stock which had been doing phenomenally well is no longer doing so?

Two district beneficiaries of Mr. Meyer's largess were Newport Councilors Charles Duncan and Steve Waluk who each rec'd maximum $1000 contributions from him in the last election - guess he's a Republican (go figure). Wonder if they'll return them?

So the next time you stand on the shore watching him sail by in his 60 ft. yacht, "Numbers" (he has two smaller yachts) give him a wave. And thank him for the recent donation of 20 mil to the Univ. of Va. After all, some of that college debt you're paying off may well have helped obtain his share of the American dream. And if you can't yet afford it (and you many never be able to), know that at the very least, you are "well leveraged."

"If government is not good perhaps it is because the "good" refuse to participate and so we get the government that we deserve."-Mark Twain "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -Teddy Roosevelt